The fallout from a massive chemical warehouse explosion in Tianjin, China could mean an "extremely hazardous" combination of toxins falling onto the 15 million people who live in the port city, Greenpeace warned a day after the August 12, 2015, incident.
At least 50 people, including firefighters who responded to the initial blaze, were killed and hundreds more were injured by the series of blasts. The Chinese government appears to be limited information shared on Twitter and other social networks about the industrial accident, but Greenpeace is reporting data that suggests the region is facing "huge environmental impacts."
"The Tianjin Tanggu Environmental Monitoring Station data suggests hazardous chemicals stored by the company may include sodium cyanide (NaCN), toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and calcium carbide (CaC2), all of which are extremely hazardous to health. The initial data may be unreliable however and comes as authorities struggle to establish exactly which chemicals were involved," Greenpeace said on its energy desk website. "Sodium cyanide is highly toxic whilst toluene diisocyanate and calcium carbide react violently with water - a further potential hazard with rain forecast for the region over the next 24 hours. The rain also raises the risk of chemicals being washed into local water supplies and eco-systems - with unknown impacts. The full extent to which the chemicals may have been burned off in the explosion is also unknown."
This dramatic video was shot by a resident shows a mushroom cloud after the largest blast.
Also, this video was shot by a drone flying over the destruction a day later:
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